Encased belt conveyors



INV/ENTOR GEORGES PIE/WONT awr( ATTORNEYS Dec. 28, 1965 G. PIEMoNTENCASED BELT CONVEYORS Filed Feb. 6. 1963 United States `Patent O3,225,903 ENCASED BELT CONVEYORS Georges Pimont, 7 Rue Rabelais, Vanves,Seine, France Filed Feb. 6, 1963, Ser. No. 256,603 Claims priority,application France, Mar. 2, 1962, 889,795, Patent 1,324,286 4 Claims.(Cl. 198-206) This invention relates to encased belt conveyors.Conveyorshave been proposed in which a product 1s .carried along in acasing or sheath by cross members tted on one or two chains, or even onbelts.

Y In these appliances, the product rubs against the whole internalsurface of the casing or sheath, while travelling and consequentlyundergoes the risk of being damaged or deteriorating; furthermore, thecasing is subjected to appreciable wear, and finally, these appliances,in view of .the aforementioned friction, require a considerable motivepower. f v

According to the present invention I provide in an encased beltconveyor, in combination an endless belt having aY working face, spacedretaining walls upstanding from 4said working face, a casing about saidbelt, means for `l-th'e friction is obtained when the conveyor is usedin a 'vertical position .or when its lower side is its working side, andthese correspond to the worst conditions of use to be expected. `This,prevents deterioration of the material conveyed and enables a reductionin the power required for driving the conveyor.

In cases where the lower length of the conveyor belt is the workinglength, which can happen when the conveyor is horizontal lor inclined,the casing is provided, at any suitable locations, withmaterial-distributing valves associated with discharging hoppers.

In accordance with one embodiment, each part of the conveyor casing,"inwhich 'is disposed one of the two straight lengths of the belt,Yconsists of one or more tubular elements of rectangular or`squarecross-section butted end to end and joined together, the ends of theresulting duct thus formed being each connected to a box the interior ofwhich forms internally the semi-circular part of the casing and containsa return drum for the aforesaid belt, one of these drums being adaptedto be rotated by driving means from an electric motor with a suitablespeed reduction gear.

The end boxes of the conveyor respectively accommodate a receiving orfeed hopper and a discharge hopper the direction of the outlets whereofcan be varied depending on the position in which the conveyor is beingused, which may be horizontal, vertical or inclined.

Finally, lateral guides are preferably tted in one of the two straightparts of the casing to form grooves to support the driving or drivenlower part of the belt when the conveyor is horizontal or inclined.

For this purpose the containing walls are fixed on the belt at sornespace from the edges of the belt so that said edges form slides guidedin the groove formed by the aforesaid guides.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

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FIG. 1 is an elevation on a small scale of an encased belt conveyoraccording to the invention, part of the casing being cut away to exposethe interior;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section on a larger scale along the line u-a of FIG.l;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of part of one of the elements constitutingthe casing containing lthe conveyor belt, part of the element beingbroken away to expose the interior; and

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagrammatic view on a small scale of one of thevarious possible applications of a group of conveyors according to theinvention.

Referring now to the drawing and in accordance with one particularembodiment of the invention, the conveyor consists of a conveyor belt 1,having two corrugated or wavy retaining walls 2 upstanding from theworking face of the belt. The walls are spaced apart in parallelrelationship and are disposed within two metal casings 3 to be slidablelongitudinally of the latter, the casings being suitably braced apart asshown at 4, and connected together at theirends by metal boxes 5 and 5the insides whereof form semicircular ducts extending and connecting theends of the casings.

Each of the boxes 5 and 5 has mounted therein a central drum 6 and 6',respectively, for the return of the belt 1, the drum 6 being rotatablydriven through the intermediary of an electric motor M with a suitablespeedreduction gear.

Hoppers 7 and 8 respectively, for intake and discharge, are associatedwith the boxes 5 and 5', and their inlet and outlet mouths are suitablydirected according to the use to be made of the conveyor (horizontally,vertically or in- .clined).

In addition, lateral guides 9 are iitted inside the casing 3 to formgrooves to support the driving or driven lower part of the conveyor belt1, in particular when the conveyor is in a horizontal or inclinedposition.

For this purpose, the containing walls 2 are fixed on the belt 1 at somespacing from the edges 1 of the belt so that said edges form slides,guided in the grooves formed by guides 9 (FIG. 2).

According to one embodiment,.the casings 3 land 3 may consist of anumber of sectional lengths each having at be attach-ed to each otherwhen butted end to end.

With such an arrangement of a conveyor belt 1 with upstanding corrugatedor wavy retaining walls 2, pulverulent or granular materials are carriedalong inside the casing 3-3' without appreciable friction since they arein lcontact with -only one side of t-he said casing and this is trueeven in the most unfavourable conditions, that is when the conveyor isvertical or when the lower length thereof is the working length.

This reduction in the friction of the materials being conveyed avoids.their possible deterioration, reduces t'he wear on the casing .at therubbing face, and enables reduction of the power required for drivingthe conveyor.

In the case where the conveyor with the lower length thereof the workinglength, that is to say .in which the part of the belt carrying themateri-al has with its walls the form of an inverted U, `distributingvalves associated with hoppers 10 are provided on the rectilinear, partcoricerned of the lower casing of the conveyor assembly to discharge theconveyed material at any desired points.

In .the example shown in FIG. 4, which comprises Ia horizontal conveyorI, a vertical conveyor II, and a further horizontal conveyor III workingin the rever-se direction, i.e. its lower length is the loperative one,it is likewis-e possible to provide on the vertical unit, raising thematerial, one 4or more valves with hoppers 11 enabling the material tobe discharged at different levels.

It will be manifest that the present invention is not restricted to theembodiment described and represented but is to be construed as extendingto modified arrangements and combinations required for the path in whichthe mate-rial is to be conveyed.

I claim:

1. In an encased belt conveyor for transportation of bulk granularmaterials in a plane which is inclined to the horizontal, in combinationan endless bel-t having a working fia-ce, a plurality of spaced endlesssinuous retaining walls upstanding from said helt working face, aclos-ed casing housing said belt with said walls extending across theinterior of said casing, means for supporting and driving said belt thelength of said casing, a rst hopper opening into said casing anddisposed to supply said belt, and a second hopper opening into saidcasing and disposed to receive conveyed material from said belt.

2. In an encased belt conveyor for transportation of bulk granularmaterials in a plane which is inclined to the horizontal, thecombination of an endless belt which includes two `mutually parallelstraight lengths and two return bend sections interconnecting saidlengths, said belt having an external Working face and an internal face,a plurality of spaced endless sinuous retaining wall-s upstanding fromsaid belt working face, a pair of rectilinear 'and mutually parallelcasing parts containing said straight lengths and said walls, a box ateach end of said casing parts connecting said casing parts, a drummounted for rotation in each said box with said 'belt return bendsections passing around said drums, a driving motor, speed reductionmeans operatively connecting said motor with one of said drums, saidcasing having an opening disposed for supplying material to said belt,said casing having an open-ing disposed for receiving material from saidbelt, and means for maintaining said belt internal face in slidingcontact with said casing parts.

3. In .an encased belt conveyor for transportation of bulk granularmaterials in a plane which .is inclined to the horizontal, thecombination of an endless belt which includes two mutually lparallelstraight lengths and two return bend sections interconnecting saidlengths, said belt having an external working face and an internal face,a plurality of spaced endless sinuous retaining Walls upstanding fromsaid belt Working face, a pair Iof rectilinear 'and mutually parallelcasing parts contain-ing said straight lengths and said walls, a box ateach end of said parts connecting said parts, a drum mounted forrotation in ea-ch `said box with said belt return bend sections passingaround said drums, a driving motor, speed reduction means `operativelyconnecting said motor with one of said drums, a yfirst hopper disposedon said casing for supplying material to said belt, a second hopperdisposed on said casing for receiving material from said belt, means formaintaining said belt internal face in sliding contact with said casingparts, valve means in one of said casing parts and located opposite saidexternal working face of said belt, and hopper means associated withsaid valve means to enable discharge of materia-l through said valve4means as desired.

4. In an encased belt conveyor for transportation of bulk granularmaterials in a plane which is inclined to the horizontal, thecombination of Ian endless belt which includes two mutually parallelstraight lengths and two return ben-d sections interconnecting saidlengths, said Ibelt having an external working face and an internalface, a plurality of spaced endless retaining walls upstanding from saidbelt working face, said walls 'being corrugated lengthwise of saidworking face, a -pair of rectilinear and mutually parallel casing partscontaining said belt straight lengt-hs and said walls, a box mounted ateach end of said casing parts connected said casing parts, a drummounted for rotation in each said box with said bel-t return bendsections passing around said drums, a drivin-g motor, speed reductionmeans operatively connecting said motor with one `of said drums, a firsthopper disposed on said casing for supplying material to said belt, asecond hopper disposed on said casing for receiving material from saidbelt, means for maintaining said internal face in sliding contact withsaid casing parts, valve means in one lof `said casing parts 'andlocated opposite said external working face of said belt, and hoppermeans associated with said valve means to enable discharge of materialthrough said valve means, as desired.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 714,150 11/1902Clarke 198--68 X 893,620 7/1908 Gardner 198-206 1,427,553 8/ 1922Schwinger. 2,129,853 9/1938 Loges 198-201 2,254,116 8/1941 Cooper et al.198-207 X 2,435,498 2/1948 Hapman 198-55 X 2,480,625 8/ 1949 Bergstrom198-140 X 2,618,374 11/1952 Rahlson 198-140 X 2,618,375 11/1952 Rahlson198-206 2,831,215 4/1958 Piemont 198-201 X 2,928,523 3/1960 Neidhart198-201 X 3,034,667 5/1962 Kline et al. 198-206 X FOREIGN PATENTS1,081,588 6/1954 France.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. i

WILLIAM B. LABORDE, Examiner.

1. IN AN ENCASED BELT CONVEYOR FOR TRANSPORTATION OF BLUK GRANULARMATERIALS IN A PLANE WHICH IS INCLINED TO THE HORIZONTAL, IN COMBINATIONAN ENDLESS BELT HAVING A WORKING FACE, A PLURALITY OF SPACED ENDLESSSINUOUS RETAINING WALLS UPSTANDING FROM SAID BELT WORKING FACE, A CLOSEDCASING HOUSING SAID BELT WITH SAID WALLS EXTENDING ACROSS THE INTERIOROF SAID CASING, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING